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Old House My House

Life in front of the camera and behind the scenes at a This Old House renovation.

Abe Lincoln and the Jet Star

May 9, 2013 -- Seaside Heights

(Picture: My all-time favorite picture, which I took during an incredible day at the Lincoln Memorial. This is an impossible shot to get unless you are up on scaffolding right next to this amazing memorial.)

Normally on This Old House we
have great access to experts and unique locations. Telling folks you work with
the show is usually a golden ticket that can get you behind the scenes of some
spectacular places. I’ll never forget
when I was at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, for example, and a Park
Service employee invited me up the statue of Abraham Lincoln onto some
scaffolding placed there for a once in a lifetime repair. Fewer than 100
people, I was told, had ever seen the sculpture this close, and when I laid
eyes on the tiny caliper marks made by Daniel Chester French during the
statue’s construction, I was literally awestruck.

(Picture: I love my job. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to get up close and personal with the Linmcoln Memorial.)

Access is a good thing, but it doesn’t always come easily. Recently I
posted about our day on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights and about the now
iconic image of the Jet Star rollercoaster sitting in the Atlantic Ocean (see
below). Seaside Heights Mayor Bill Akers had secured access for us to this
incredible site that was destroyed by Sandy and undergoing a frenzied
re-construction. After filming a scene with the mayor we thanked him and moved
off the boardwalk and headed to the beach so we could shoot a DTC (direct to
camera) in front of the eerie image of the waves crashing onto the Jet Star.

There was just one problem: the access road to the beach was blocked by a
New Jersey state trooper and the mayor – our ticket to film anywhere we wanted
–– had just left us. What to do? Well, in these cases you hope the gatekeeper
(the trooper in this case) happens to recognize you and also happens to be a
fan of the show. So, the crew sent my familiar face forward to the squad car.
As I approached and saw no softening of the trooper’s stare I realized now
would have been a good time to be Norm Abram instead of Kevin O’Connor.

Okay, maybe he didn’t recognize me but I was sure he would be familiar
with the show. So, as I approached, carefully, and as he lowered his window,
reluctantly, I decided turnabout was fair play. I stood tall above him as he
sat low in his seat and I pulled out my credentials – a business card in a
cheap pleather case – and flashed them inside the cruiser. “Kevin O’Connor,
This Old House” I said in my most authoritative voice. “We are going to film on
your beach.”

Silence. Then he got out of the car. Shoot. Now he was the tall, towering
one. The silenced persisted until finally he spoke. “Let me see that again” he
said, his stare softening. “Kevin O’Connor, This Old House?” I repeated, in the form of a question this time. After all, he
had a gun, and all I had was a cameraman.

Then he laughed. Maybe at my gall, maybe at the situation, or maybe just
because he loves the show like so many others. In any event, he waved us on to
the beach and we shot our DTC. And when we were done, I shot this picture,
which has become one of my most memorable.